The ‘coming’ web (web 3.0) is potentially going to be fantastically amazing graphics, coupled with a so called ‘semantic web’. The semantic web is taking the web as we know it, and using intelligent applications that can apparently understand context of a user’s request and interpret our preferences (basically data mining) to make web use more personalised. While all this is going on in the background and will be for the purposes of generally creating a better experience, the idea in general feels a little invasive to me.
It means however, managing information and the net more efficiently. As larger businesses progress, and potentially gain the ability to ‘mine’ peoples preferences, I wonder how many smaller organisations and/or non profit companies currently without the ability to be connected via social media pages will be left behind. How will smaller organisations interpret the preferences/demographics and details of their target audiences to deliver proactively their offerings in the competitive online platform.
I was interested in reading recently that smaller companies, naturally due to smaller pools of resources, are behind larger companies in the social networking/web arena. It seems an injustice allow more of a gap between the larger companies’ success and the smaller companies currently working hard to survive. So, it means these smaller business owners need to be getting off those forums with other business owners discussing “how good is the idea of social media”, and take the action to utilise it.
How do smaller businesses with their smaller pool of resources keep up their presence in the social media space to use as a communication tool, and then further this when technology is available? A great idea I wish I could take the credit for, but can’t (see below) is taking those keen ‘generation Y’ers’ and building an arsenal of graduates who might have completed courses in social media communication to build the online presence in place of larger companies costly high tech web designers and marketing divisions.
Having this team of young budding tech savvy (lower cost) resources to assist with the social media space will help when needing to extend to the Mobile Social Media applications, which is fast gaining focus. Not a bad idea when you consider how long ago it was you used your cell phone purely for the purposes of making phone calls or texts.
It seems we have gone through leaps and bounds in terms of the way marketing is managed on the web. From companies using web 1.0, to provide information, to this web 2.0 which allows interactive information, to mobile social media where users are the ones requesting the information! Not to forget the coming Web 3.0 that will pull information for us users and deliver on a platter what we want before we ask for it.
Hope that was a summary you could understand.
P.S, great idea: Bakeman and Hanson’s Business journal article on Bringing social media to small business: A role for employees and students in technology diffusion.
(Article is about what its title says really… )